Old and new ways to sell art

Hi everybody, I'm an MSc student and I'm currently writing
my dissertation about the role of the internet in the art industry. I want to
investigate the distribution channels available for artists nowadays and what
artists actually need.

What kind of service might interest you the most?

A) An online gallery where is possible to show and to sell your
artworks. This hypothetical gallery hosts till 20 artists with styles similar
to yours, providing as well a dedicated biography of your creations. The
gallery asks a commission of 15% for each piece of art sold.

B) A company which manages all the sales of your paintings
through big, well-established marketplaces such as Etsy, Ebay, Fine Art America
etc. The hypothetical company would create your shop within the marketplace,
updating the inventory and manage the relationships with buyers. The company asks
a fee of 5% for each piece of art sold (that obviously should be added to the
commission applied by the marketplace).

C) A company which creates a tailored website for you (price
$2.000) and provides content management services (e.g. uploading new pieces of
art) for $100 per year.

Please give a grade at each service from 1 (not interested)
to 10 (very interested):

For example:

A) 5

B) 6

C) 7

If you think at other online-based services which might help
artists in selling their works, please feel free to share your thoughts.

You are asking, "What type of service would interest you most". You should be asking, "With what types of marketing services for artwork have you had experience—including Internet marketing services?" "With which of these services have you had the most success?" "Are you selling original art or prints?" "What is the price range, including shipping, of your sales?" "Do you consider yourself a professional artist?"

You are dealing with methods of selling something that is a luxury item. It's appeal is visual. I believe there is a price ceiling —at top price range—on selling a product of this type without the buyer being able to see the actual item. This is the sort of thing that needs to be investigated.

You should be comparing the Internet to other ways of selling art. Also, you should be finding information on what price ranges actually sell on the web. There is a real question if the Internet is of any value for marketing higher priced artwork. Artwork is a luxury item. It is a visual item. A buyer would have to be out of his mind to purchase a really expensive piece of artwork online having never seen the original.

I have had a website for years and have seen limited success in some price ranges.

You sound as if you are interested in scouting out the art market to set up some method for artists to exhibit their work online. If so a few guys have beat you to it. The Internet has been around for over 25 years. If a website is charging artists for showing their work online, the guy making money is the site owner. Art doesn't move that fast.

Your suggestion about price range and effectiveness of online marketing is very interesting. It makes sense to me that high priced pieces of art are difficulty salable using (only) online channels.

This partially explains the success of marketplaces such as Etsy or Ebay where the average prices of the items is quite low.

My aim is to compare online art galleries to established marketplaces (e.g. Etsy, Ebay etc.). Do online galleries add a value that artists really appreciatenowadays (and hence artists are ready to pay something for that)? I'd like to hear some experience about this question...

I'm interested to this topic because, as I said previously, I'm writing a dissertation about that, but in the future I do not exclude to be involved personally in this industry...